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State police supply building almost ready

January 28, 2013

Jim McNutt / Observer-Reporter

A new maintenance garage for state Department of Transportation vehicles is being built along Route 519 in North Bethlehem Township, next to PennDOT offices and a new state police supply building.
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Jim McNutt / Observer-Reporter

The new state police supply building on Route 519 in North Bethlehem Township is almost completed.
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EIGHTY FOUR – A new procurement and supply building for Pennsylvania State Police is nearing completion.

The $3.4 million building on Route 519 in North Bethlehem Township is expected to be finished in about two months.

Troy Thompson, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of General Services, said Monday the building is “90 to 95 percent completed.”

The original completion date was to be Saturday, but a problem arose when the building’s mechanical contractor went out of business. Mechanical Tower Construction Services of Pittsburgh has been replaced by Tudi Mechanical, also of Pittsburgh.

Nello Construction Co. of Canonsburg is the project’s general contractor. Jeff Zell Consultants of Coraopolis is the architect.

The first phase of the building included site development, construction of a large retaining wall and leveling out the parking area.

In addition to housing supplies for the Troop B state police barracks, it will include storage room for state police substations in Waynesburg and Uniontown, which do not have ample space.

The second phase of the project will be the construction of a new state police barracks to replace Troop B’s current barracks on Murtland Avenue, first occupied in 1949.

Thompson said the department is in the preliminary design for that building and has yet to select an architect. They hope to put the project out for bids in the fall and start construction in 2014.

Also planned for the 30-acre site is a new garage for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, that is now under construction. PennDOT moved its offices from Murtland Avenue into the former Consol Energy building adjacent to the building site.

No one from PennDOT was available to comment on the status of that project.